- Born
- Died
- Birth nameClarence Shepherd Day Jr.
- American author Clarence Day was born in New York City in 1874. He came from a wealthy family (his father had his own brokerage firm on Wall Street and was a member of the New York Stock Exchange, and his grandfather founded the "New York Sun" newspaper), and he graduated from Yale University--where he was the editor of the school's humor magazine, "The Yale Record"--in 1896. The next year he joined his father's brokerage firm, but left a year later to enlist in the US Navy. Unfortunately, he developed crippling arthritis while in the service, resulting in his spending the rest of his life as a semi-invalid.
His most famous work is his memoir, "Life with Father" (1935), which humorously recounted the Day family life in the 1890s under the rule of his domineering father. The book was quite successful, and was turned into a smash-hit play in 1939, then into a critically and financially successful film, Life with Father (1947)). The film received Oscar nominations for best cinematography, best art direction, best musical score and best actor (William Powell). It was also turned into a short-lived (two seasons) TV series, Life with Father (1953).
Clarence Day died of pneumonia in New York City in 1935.- IMDb Mini Biography By: frankfob2@yahoo.com
- SpouseKatherine Briggs Dodge(July 17, 1928 - December 28, 1935) (his death, 1 child)
- His father, Clarence Day Sr, owned a Wall Street brokerage firm and was a banker, a railroad director, and Governor of the New York Stock Exchange.
- His grandfather Benjamin Day and great-uncle Moses Yale Beach were the founders in 1833 of the New York Sun.
- Developed an arthritic condition in the Navy, which effectively made him bedridden for the rest of his life, but did not stem his writing.
- American humorist, best known for "Life with Father" (1935), which was dramatized by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse in 1939 and popularly filmed in 1947 (Life with Father (1947)). Sequels were "Life with Mother" (1937) and "Father and I" (1940).
- His uncle Benjamin Henry Day Jr. was the inventor of the Ben Day printing process.
- Information's pretty thin stuff unless mixed with experience.
- Even the books that do not last long penetrate their own times at least, sailing farther than Ulysses even dreamed of, like ships on the seas. It is the author's part to call into being their cargoes and passengers, living thoughts and rich bales of study and jeweled ideas.
- The world of books is the most remarkable creation of man. Nothing else that he builds ever lasts. Monuments fall; nations perish; civilizations grow old and die out; and, after an era of darkness, new races build others. But in the world of books are volumes that have seen this happen again and again, and yet live on, still young, still as fresh as the day they were written, still telling men's hearts of the hearts of men centuries dead.
- You can't sweep other people off their feet, if you can't be swept off your own.
- Once a man has begun to accumulate money, it is unnatural to stop. He actually gets in a state where he wants more and more. The growth of an appetite is determined by nature, not men, and this is as true of getting money as of anything else. As soon as a man is used to a certain amount, no matter how large, his ideas of what is suitable expand. That is the way men are made.
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